Paper Bead Necklace

Today I made the absolute cutest, nerdiest necklace I have ever made.

Can we just pause and gawk at how cute it is?




Thank you.  And before I forget I'd like to thank Nicole for modeling it for me!

In case you couldn't see it close enough, those white beads?  Paper.  Yeah, I said it.  I always felt like paper beads looked a little tacky, but as soon as I saw this charm at Hobby Lobby (only $1.47, and then add a 40% off coupon!) I knew that it needed paper beads.

Paper beads are such a traditional camp craft, which probably leads to my dislike of them.  If you've ever sat in a muggy barn trying to force a group of 5th graders to wrap glue-soaked magazine scraps around toothpicks you know what I mean.  But for one night I had to put aside my distaste in order to create my masterpiece.  And I'm so glad I did!

First off, how to make these beads.  First you need paper.  I used paper from a book my roommate had from carving a book for a secret compartment.  I did the same craft, but I'm saving my pages for something bigger and better (stay tuned!).  You'll also need toothpicks and some form of glue and finish (I used Mod Podge to cut out any finishing that would need to be done).

I have two basic shaped beads.  The first is what I think of as a traditional paper bead shape, a sort of egg shaped bead.  First, cut a piece of paper into a long acute triangle.

"I'm cute because all my angles are less than 90 degrees!"
Your math for today.

Then wrap it around your toothpick.  Some people apply glue and then wrap, but I don't because I dislike getting glue on my fingers.  I know this is silly- crafters must live with glue- but I like to limit it.

Ew...  Is that really what my nails looks like?
 Time for a manicure!

After wrapping the paper, use a paintbrush to apply Mod Podge.  Be careful to not get too much on the toothpick or it will be hard to remove the bead.  Let it dry, add a second layer of Mod Podge, and BOOM!  You've got a bead!

Reminds me of a rabbit with quite a large overbite.

The second type, and my favorite, starts with this funky two-triangle shape.












 Wrap it and glue it like you did with the other bead, and voila!  This is the bead you get.  I love it- it's so funky!  Let it dry, add a second coat, and you have bead number two.


Keep making 'em until your fingers are stuck together and you have toothpicks sprouting out of your workplace like it's spring (or, if you're like me, the one toothpick you begged off your roommate is so crusted with Mod Podge that you can't get one more bead off of it).


Now, I have done very few necklaces (read- none) with beads as connectors, so I sort of learned along the way.  The chain I used was from a broken necklace, and I had the wire on hand.  I took my needle nose pliers and somehow broke the links in my chain.  This was, for me, by far the hardest part of this project.  I need to invest in more tools, but again I am a poor college student.  Anyways, I strung my bead on the wire and strung the wire through the chain.

Next, I wrapped the wire around my pliers to make the round shape WITH THE CHAIN IN THE LOOP.  I did this while watching TV, so constantly got distracted and left the chain out of the loop.  Darn Oscars....

Twist the wire around itself, then add the bead and do the same on the other side.  Again, I was watching TV while doing this so I did not capture the second half of wrapping.  But I believe in you.

And here's the finished wrapping craziness.  My original plan was to have my paper airplane hanging on the front somewhere, but I didn't like how it looked.  It would have been better if the charm was smaller.  A quick conference with Nicole and we came up with a new plan...

Hang it off the back!  I got more chain from a broken necklace (I honestly don't know how I break so many necklaces...) and connected my paper airplane to it so it hangs down my back.  It does weigh the necklace down a little so I have to adjust it every so often, but that's the price of beauty, isn't it?

Here again is my amazing necklace.  It was a good way to waste my time while watching the Oscars.  I don't think I mentioned how much I hate watching award shows.  There's something that bothers me about watching famous people patting themselves on the back.  It's not as bad as the Grammy's- my music genre is completely underrepresented- but I have such little interest in movies to begin with that I just get bored stiff.  I don't mind that they're being awarded- I just don't want to watch.  Nicole kept whining, though, so I filled my obligation of 'friend' and sat through it with her.

My goal for next time- take better pictures!  Working over cardboard doesn't make my work too photogenic, but I'm working on it.

See ya' next time!

Toilet Paper Roll Owl

Hey all!

I've decided I am way too good at crafts to not share my awesomeness with the world.  Of course I make this decision after one intense craft weekend, but better late than never!

A few months ago I was making toilet paper roll flowers to hang up in my apartment.  I used a bunch, and my roommates got into the habit of giving me all of their rolls when they're done.  So now I have a backlog of rolls, and the hoarder in me will not allow me to recycle them.  This is just a warning that there will probably be a lot of toilet paper crafts for a while now.  Plus the fact that I'm a poor college student means that recycled materials are my main medium.

Anyways, I guess I should get started!

"Whooo will make me?"

Tonight I made the most adorable owl out of just a toilet paper roll and some paint!  Price?  Nadda.  Zilch.  Nothing.

First I folded down the top of the toilet paper roll.  The top overlaps a little, but I didn't get a picture of that.  Give me a beak.  This is my first time doing one of these things!







Then I painted it blue.  I'll be honest- a big reason this owl is blue is because I have very few paint colors.  This blue is my absolute favorite color I have- craft smart Turquoise that I got from Michaels for about $1 when I was making my flowers.

I did two layers of this so that I could be sure none of the cardboard showed.








After letting my gorgeous blue dry I added details.  I painted green feathers on his chest, and when they were dry I did a brushed layer of yellow.  After letting it dry I added another line of green on top so that the feathers were more distinguished.  I mixed blue and green together and did light brushes all over him to get more of a feathery look.  I don't think you can really see it in the picture, but trust me- it added something to him.






After I was done I showed it off to Nicole, one of my roommates, who said he would look great in my plant in the living room.  I grabbed a straw and shoved it into the dirt in the pot. Voila!  Instant garden stake! I stuck my owl on top of the straw, then took five or six pictures until I managed to get one that wasn't blurry.

 Our living room has become a minor jungle.  One of my friends got me a meditation fountain for Christmas, and we moved two of them to an end table.  We have our own little shrine corner that we're all pretty proud of.

Anyways, thanks for sticking with me through my first post!  I promise to try to do some more useful crafts as I gather more supplies.  Have a great weekend!